Crackdown on shanties China vows to project military might beyond its borders
BEIJING DEFIES CALLS FROM US, PHILIPPINES FOR A FREEZE ON CONSTRUCTION OF ISLANDS
China said yesterday it would project its military power further beyond its sea borders and more assertively in the air, defending the construction of artificial islands which sparked concern in Washington.
The People’s Liberation Army navy will put greater emphasis on “open seas protection” rather than “offshore waters defence” alone, the State Council or cabinet said in a white paper.
At the same time the air force will shift focus “from territorial air defence to both defence and offence”, it said.
The army will increase its global mobility and artillery forces will strengthen capabilities for “medium and long-range precision strikes”, it added.
The paper was released with China and the US at loggerheads over Beijing’s rapid island-building in contested parts of the South China Sea, which the country claims almost in its entirety.
China outlined a strategy to boost its naval reach yesterday and held a groundbreaking ceremony for two lighthouses in disputed waters, developments likely to escalate tensions in a region already jittery about Beijing’s maritime ambitions.
In a policy document issued by the State Council, the Communist-ruled country’s cabinet, China vowed to increase its “open seas protection”, switching from air defence to both offence and defence, and criticised neighbours who take “provocative actions” on its reefs and islands.
China has been taking an increasingly assertive posture over recent years in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, where Beijing has engaged in land reclamation in the Spratly archipelago.
US spy plane
China, which claims most of the South China Sea, criticised Washington after a US spy plane flew over areas near the reefs last week, with both sides accusing each other of stoking instability.
It has overlapping claims with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion (Dh18.3 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes yearly.
Some countries with “ulterior motives” had unfairly characterised China’s military presence and sensationalised the issue, he said. Surveillance in the region was increasingly common and China would continue to take “necessary measures” to respond.
“Some external countries are also busy meddling in South China Sea affairs. A tiny few maintain constant close-in air and sea surveillance and reconnaissance against China,” the strategy paper said in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
It said China’s air force would shift its focus from territorial air defence to both offence and defence, and building airspace defences with stronger military capabilities.
China, which claims most of the South China Sea, criticised Washington after a US spy plane flew over areas near the reefs last week, with both sides accusing each other of stoking instability. It has overlapping claims with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion (Dh18.3 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes yearly.